1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input managing method when simultaneously using plural input means in information processing equipment. The present invention also relates to an input signal analyzing device utilizing the input managing method.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, with respect to system operation processes, the natural language interface and voice input interface techniques are known, in addition to the well-known graphical user interface (GUI) technique. For example, in the natural language interface art, Tani et al. disclose that "a retrieval language SQL is created from an input conceptual dependency structure being a result of analysis of a Japanese sentence", in the paper entitled "A Natural Language Interface Development Kit: IF-Kit" (Technical Report of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, NLC-91-62, Vol. 91, No. 534, PP. 25-32 (1992)). With respect to the voice input interface, Yamamoto et al. disclose that "Only an independent word is displayed on a menu. By freely using the independent word, the user can input phrase by phrase, which are connected to an arbitrary dependent word series, in voice" in the paper entitled "A Menu-Based Spoken Natural Language Input System" (Proceedings of the 47th Annual Convention, Information Processing Society of Japan, 3-167).
In the prior art, in order to operate a certain system, the operation instruction command is input through a single input system. For example, when the conventional natural language interface receives "Please tell me the telephone number of a hotel in the district A", an instruction for the corresponding database system is created. In this case, the input analysis is carried out on an input signal sent from a single interface, such as a keyboard. That is, the conventional natural language interface coexists with the GUI in the system. However, the input signals from both of the interfaces are not accepted or received simultaneously, and are not analyzed by taking each other into consideration. Moreover, in the conventional voice input interface, only one input entry is received and analyzed by selecting the GUI in the form for menu selection, or voice input device. However, the input signals from both interfaces are not accepted at the same time to analyze by taking each other into consideration them.
The object of the present invention is to provide an inputting method for specifying an input content by collecting plural pieces of input information being signals input from plural inputting means.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an input information managing method for specifying an input content by collecting input information being signals input from plural inputting means.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an input device using the above-mentioned inputting method or input information managing method.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system including the above-mentioned input device.